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March 26-29, 1987 London Palladium, London, ENG
When the British Amnesty shows finally resumed in 1987 after a six-year hiatus, the show format was retooled in an effort to take advantage of the growing number of rock musicians supporting Amnesty. Instead of the live show being primarily a comedy show with a few musical cameos, the event made a point of giving equal emphasis to comedy and music. The show's four nights were divided up into two nights of comedy and two nights of music. The line-up of musicians included several who were already veterans of earlier Amnesty benefits in the UK and/or USA: Bob Geldof, Peter Gabriel, Jackson Browne and Lou Reed. Other performers included Kate Bush, David Gilmour, Mark Knopfler, Joan Armatrading, Chet Atkins, World Party and Duran Duran. Most of the comedic performers in the 1987 show were talents familiar primarily just to British audiences. This made the film of the show far less appealing to overseas audiences and unlike its predecessors; it did not find major international distribution in lucrative markets such as the USA and Canada. Comedic performers included: Stephen Fry & Hugh Laurie, Mel Smith & Griff Rhys Jones, Dawn French & Jennifer Saunders, Ruby Wax, Hale and Pace, Lenny Henry, Rory Bremner, Robbie Coltrane, Ben Elton and the Spitting Image puppets. The shows took place at The London Palladium over four consecutive nights 26–29 March 1987. The shows were videotaped and a home video special was created integrating performances from the two comedy nights and two music nights. It was released by Virgin Vision. Two TV specials were created and transmitted – one featuring musical performances, the other featuring comedy performances. Following the pattern established by the 1979 and 1981 shows, separate albums of the comedic and musical performances was released by Virgin Records. The shows were produced by Tony Hollingsworth, and the videos were produced by Hollingsworth and Neville Bolt. The 92-minute TV and video specials were subsequently criticised for the increased musical content. While all the musical performances were presented in full, the comedic performances were often edited heavily. The TV version also prominently featured spoof documentary segments by newcomer Ruby Wax, which took time from the performances of the comedians and musicians. This reflected the fact that, unlike the previous shows (which had been stage events that integrated comedy and music) the performances were edited together from two entirely different types of stage show. The Show Joan Armatrading, Aswad, Chet Atkins, Joy Behart, Paul Brady, Richard Branson, Rory Bremner, Jackson Browne, Kate Bush, John Cleese, Phil Cool, Robbie Coltrane, Andy de la Tour, Duran Duran, Ben Elton, Erasure, Craig Ferguson, Dawn French and Jennifer Saunders, Stephen Fry and Hugh Laurie, Peter Gabriel, Paul Gambaccini, Bob Geldof, Dave Gilmour, Gareth Hale and Norman Pace, Lenny Henry, Jools Holland, Nigel Kennedy, Nik Kershaw, Mark Knopfler, Warren Mitchell, Yousso N’Dour, Bill Oddie, Emo Philips, Courtney Pine, Lou Reed, Jonathan Ross, Andrew Sachs, Mel Smith and Griff Rhys Jones, Spitting Image, Loudon Wainwright 111, The Who Dares Wins Team, Working Week, World Party and Paula Yates. Directed by Ken O’Neill. Mike Hurley (as ‘Bill Bore’) and Chris Langham Phil Cool Emo Philips Spitting Image (2 segments) Hale and Pace (as ‘The Two Rons’) Mel Smith and Griff Rhys Jones Lenny Henry (2 segments) Fry and Laurie (with John Cleese) Craig Ferguson French and Saunders Andrew Sachs (as ‘Manuel’) Warren Mitchell (as ‘Alf Garnett’) Rory Bremner Ben Elton Mike Hurley (as ‘Bill Bore’) Ruby Wax (with Henry/Geldof/Coltrane/Cleese) * a separate release The Secret Policeman’s Third Ball – The Music (Virgin VVD 210/PAL) featured musical items from the concert.